Sudbury Town Meeting approves $7.2M for new police station

Wednesday

May 7, 2014 at 6:00 AM

By Scott O'ConnellDaily News Staff

SUDBURY – Annual Town Meeting overwhelmingly approved a proposed new police station Monday night at Lincoln-Sudbury High School.But voters only OK’d $7.2 million for the project, leaving an unresolved $700,000 needed to pay for the rest of the estimated $7.9 million cost.Police Chief Scott Nix, who presented the lower figure on Town Meeting floor, said town officials felt that was the appropriate decision, given voters already approved the police station in a ballot vote in late March, when the $7.2 million number was attached to the project. A more recent independent cost estimate led town officials to come up to the higher projection.Nix said they are hoping bids for the work will come in at or below $7.2 million. If not, the project will have to come back at another Town Meeting to get the remainder of the moneyResident Kirsten Roopenian made an amendment Monday night to boost the expenditure to $7.9 million, which was defeated by a slim margin."My concern is if we wait, and have to come back for yet another Town Meeting, then costs are going to go up," she said, referring to town officials' explanation that increasing prices in the regional construction market are behind the recent higher estimate for the police station.Both selectmen and the Finance Committee opted not to support her amendment, however, citing the ethical dilemma it would create."I think we need to respect the ballot vote," selectmen Chairman John Drobinski said. "We feel conflicted, because we absolutely need this police station."The new headquarters will be built at 77 Hudson Road, next to the town’s fire station. The police department’s current headquarters on Rte. 20 are too small - the building's square footage is 6,400 to the new station's 14,540 - and "has reached the end of its serviceable life," Sudbury facilities director Jim Kelly said.After getting higher than anticipated cost estimates for the project, Nix said he and other officials working on the plan have already stripped it to the essentials, and that it likely won't be possible to lower the cost any further."We don't want to revise the project to the point we no longer have a viable proposal," he said. "We've gotten to a size that's sustainable."At $7.9 million, the new station would cost the average household $93 in the first year of the debt repayment, officials said.Scott O'Connell can be reached at 508-626-4449 or soconnell@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter: @ScottOConnellMW

Market Place

Original content available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license, except where noted.
MetroWest Daily News, Framingham, MA ~ 33 New York Ave., Framingham, MA 01701 ~ Privacy Policy ~ Terms Of Service